The Four Food Groups of Southern Cooking- Thanksgiving Style

Sugar, Grease, Salt and Alcohol...

There they are in all of their glory. And in this very special episode of Facts of Cooking Life, there will be Thanksgiving. That's right, there will be grease (fatback, lard and bacon grease- oh my), sugar, salt and alcohol in all of its Thanksgivingy glory.

Hubby and I eat an early lunch with my family, head home and prepare/have Thanksgiving dinner with his family. I am amazed every Thanksgiving at the amount of food I have on my dining room table for only six people. Turkey, yeast rolls, company rice (my Mother-In-Law's recipe that she is yet to share), sweet potato casserole, green beans with county ham, collards, butter beans, dressing, bread pudding, a cobbler of some sort and pecan pie. I am trying to figure out exactly who it is I think I am feeding.

It may be more akin to getting to play with make-up when you are little girl. You do not get to do it often so Sugar, pile it on until the lipstick tube is empty, rouge is in perfect pink dots and your powder blue eye shadow is glistening for all to see! Or in this case all the sugar, flour,bacon and country ham in a tri-county area is sitting on my counter top waiting for a little Thanksgiving love.

Now I do not do it all by myself. Memaw, my mother-in-law, brings the company rice and the sweet potato casserole. My brother-in-law brings the bread pudding. The rest is all me, baby. I love, LOVE,  L-O-V-E to cook. Cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas is like opening gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. However, I know that I cannot do it all in one day so some of my dishes I cook as freeze.

This weekend, I made my collards and froze them so all that will need to be done is thaw and reheat. Collards are perfect for freezing because they taste better after a little time in the freezer.

I have two recipes for my collards. One that incorporates almost all of the Four Southern Food Groups with lots piggy. There is also a lighter version that I promise is almost as good. Hey, I said almost.

I am a huge fan of the crock-pot for a recipe like this. Throw them in and walk away.

The yummy goodness that is collards my Grandma's way-

4 lbs of collards
1 1/2 lbs of ham hocks or neck bones
1 quarts of water (brought to a simmer)
1 small onion
1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes or a few dashes of hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
A pinch of sugar

Clean your collards! If you are buying them from a Farmers' Market, they will need to be cleaned. If you are buying in the bag from a big box story or grocery store them will need to be rinsed.

I find the best way to clean them is fill your sink up with cool water and in small batches put the collards into the water and swish them. (Swish is a very technical culinary term.) We are not done. Fill the sink with water and white vinegar, I would add a cup, and put the collards back in and let them soak for 5-10 minutes. Little creatures do not particularly care for the vinegar and that will help you find any that the swishing missed. Again swish, think the agitator in your washing machine for about 30 seconds. Drain and rinse 2-3 more times. You should be all set. If you are using the store bought bagged collards that say pre-cleaned, give them a good rinse under running water and drain.

1. Chop your onion and put in your crock pot. If you are not using your crock pot (cp), put them in a stock pot on low. You really do not need to add oil or grease because we are not browning the onions. But you are more than welcome to add a little bacon grease it you like. Fat is flavor.

2. Chop your collards to the size you like.

One of my grandmother's left hers in pieces and my other grandmother chopped hers, think the consistency of creamed spinach. They are both delicious it is just a matter of preference. I leave mine in pieces since not everyone like the "smushed" texture of chopped. Smushed another technical culinary term.

3. Place the collards in your cp or your pan. Pour the water over the collards. If you are using your cp, you may need to this in batches pouring some of the water over the collards. This will wilt them some so that you can put more in the cp. If you are using the pan, it is not as important because the collards will start to wilt a little in the heat of the pan.

This will look like a ton of collards but they will cook down. This recipe actually serves 6. It will look like 26 when prepping them.

4. Add the the remaining ingredients.

5. For cp users- set it on low for 6-7 hours or high for 4-5. Stove top cookers- bring your collards up to a gentle boil. As soon as they come to a boil, reduce heat to med-low and simmer 1 1/2-2 hours. I find that if I just my cast iron dutch oven, I have to turn them almost to low due to the pot likker evaporating. Check on them occasionally and if the water is getting low just add a little more.

I know, I hear you. This tale a long time. That is why I did them this weekend. I prepped them first thing and went about cleaning. By the time, the house was clean and errands run they were ready to be put in containers to cool. Once cool put in the freezer.

Now the Almost As Good as Piggy Infused Collards
(Remember- I said ALMOST.)


4 lbs of collards
3 cups of *chicken stock and 1 c of beer (nothing fancy or limey or frou-frouy) (brought to a simmer)
1 small onion
1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes or a few dashes of hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
A pinch of sugar

*veggie stock may be substituted if you want to keep them meat free

Clean your collards! Refer to the method above.

1. Chop your onion and put in your crock pot. If you are not using your crock pot (cp), put them in a stock pot on low. You really do not need to add oil or grease because we are not browning the onions. But you are more than welcome to add a little olive oil it you like.

2. Chop your collards to the size you like.

3. Place the collards in your cp or your pan. Pour the stock and beer mixture over the collards. If you are using your cp, you may need to this in batches, pouring some of the liquid over the collards. This will wilt them some so that you can put more in the cp. If you are using the pan, it is not as important because the collards will start to wilt a little in the heat of the pan.

This will look like a ton of collards but they will cook down. This recipe actually serves 6. It will look like 26 when prepping them.

4. Add the the remaining ingredients.

5. For cp users- set it on low for 6-7 hours or high for 4-5. Stove top cookers- bring your collards up to a gentle boil. As soon as they come to a boil, reduce heat to med-low and simmer 1 1/2-2 hours. I find that if I just my cast iron dutch oven, I have to turn them almost to low due to the pot likker evaporating. Check on them occasionally and if the liquid is getting low just add a little more chicken stock or water.

Beer in collards? What in the world? That is crazy. While I am a big proponent of the 4 Southern Food Groups, this is not adding alcohol for the sake of alcohol. It actually gives a a great flavor and helps with the bitterness that greens have. You can also use beer in the first recipe as well as chicken stock if you want even more flavor.

Thaw in the refrigerator and heat and serve on Thanksgiving day. You can freeze them in containers or in zip-top bags. Drop the bags in a large pot of simmering water and you do not even have to thaw. Simmer until heated through and put in serving dish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bumfuzzled

I love words. The weirder the better, like bumfuzzle/bumfuzzled. It means to confuse, perplex, fluster. It is such a great word because it accurately describes how I feel right now.

I am so blessed to have a Mama that taught me very valuable lessons early on in life. You have naturally curly hair, brushing will hurt. You will always immediately sneeze after applying mascara. I may not see what you are doing but Jesus can. (Ponder that one for a minute- puts the kabosh on a lot of fun things that might get you in trouble.) There will always be someone smarter than you, more talented than you and prettier than you, that is life. It can be unfair but do your best and you will be successful. Now those were not her exact words but that is what I learned from the things she said. And it was the absolute best thing she ever could have taught me. Well that and the teeny tiny little thing called respect. I do believe there was many a b-u-t-t whooping (putting it politely) when I was disrespectful. Now my mama was the queen of wait until your Deddy gets home. She did not like to spank us one bit but you start sassing or being disrespectful and she would go from loving mother by day to choose your means of butt whooping this is going to hurt me more that it will hurt you by night. (Ummm- not so much but I am still scared of her so I will zip it.) And Lord help you (no really, Lord save your scrawny behind) if you had been disrespectful to one of my grandmothers. She would not only get you but then tell Deddy. Do you see the recurring theme here? Disrespect was not allowed in the Turner household. No way Jose. It was not allowed with our family, other adults, our friends or each other.

So that leads to my bumfuzzlement. (That may or may not be a Jodyism but I will look it up later. If it is not a "real" word, it should be!) Didn't the majority of us learn this valuable lesson? If we did, have we forgotten it? I am crushed by the things friends have said to friends; family to family; Christians to Christians during this political season. It breaks my heart. AND that is hard to do, I am Southern. My heart has been blessed at least 784,642 times in my years on this Earth.

I was taught we can agree to disagree but we can never be disrespectful to one another. In preparing for this blog, I looked up the meaning of the words disagree and disrespect. Merriam Webster says:

Disagree- to fail to agree; to differ in opinion

synonyms- differ, dissent, nonconcur, to take issue
antonyms- agree, consent, concur

Disrespect- to have disrespect for to show or express contempt.

Contempt- the act of despising

The synonyms for despise are abhor, abominate, hate. The antonym- LOVE.

No wonder Mama was so tough on us about being disrespectful. Disagree does not carry the negative weight of Disrespect. We can agree to disagree. I can disagree with what you say, offer you a cup of coffee and some cobbler. Disrespect me and well, no cobbler for you.

As we go into Election Day tomorrow remember this- It is okay to disagree. It is what makes this Nation GREAT. We have the right to disagree with one another. We do not all have to be the same. Think of how stinking boring that would be. But we do have to be respectful, especially if we are Christians.

Romans 13:8-10 says it best....

⁸ Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,”^[a] “You shall not covet,”^[b] and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”^[c] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Regardless of what happens today, if your guy wins or loses, remember to respect the ones you love. They are special enough for God to put them in your life and carve in stone to love them as you love yourself.

And also remember, that if your guy wins are loses, PRAY. Pray for our President, our Government, our Country. Pray for each other. I know there is enough going on in my life that if someone wants to randomly or not so randomly pray that I have God's strength and wisdom working in me, I will gladly accept it because I need it. Like someone dying of thirst, I need it.

Love and Respect to everyone! And THANK YOU to any and everyone who has served or is serving in the military and protected my right to stand in line and cast my ballot this morning. It was an honor to do so and I am grateful.